Delta Airlines Q2 Misses Earnings Estimates Due To Costly Fuel Prices

- Delta Airlines Q2 Misses Earnings Estimates Due To Costly Fuel Prices



Jul 27, 2011

Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL) reported a Q2 loss of $0.43, narrower than analyst estimates for a loss of $0.46 per share. Revenues for the quarter rose 12.1% year-over-year to $9.15 billion, missing consensus estimates of $9.16 billion.

Richard Anderson, Delta's chief executive officer said, "High fuel prices are putting significant pressure on the industry, but the benefits of Delta's strategic actions and the dedication of Delta employees are evident in the solid profit we produced despite more than $1 billion in higher fuel expense. Our revenue momentum, coupled with the capacity reductions we are making in September and actions to get our non-fuel costs to 2010 levels, will generate the margins we need to hit our return targets."

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) has a potential upside of 80.1% based on a current price of $8.02 and an average consensus analyst price target of $14.44.

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Edge's Drilling Program Delayed Due to Wet Weather

- Edge's Drilling Program Delayed Due to Wet Weather

Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Edge Resources Inc.

Edge Resources provided the following operational update in response to the recent flooding and extremely wet weather in the area of Eckville, Alberta, where the Company currently operates the majority of its producing natural gas wells.

Eckville has recently made news headlines because of heavy rains and flooding in and around the town. While the Company is disheartened by the loss and damage to property in and around Eckville, Edge is pleased to announce that none of its production or current operations have been adversely affected by the flooding.

The Company had hoped to initiate its summer 2011 drilling program this week; however, the extremely wet conditions have delayed the initiation of this program as well as delayed additional completion and tie-in activities in the area. The Company expects that it will be in a position to move a drilling rig into the area in August, with the help of warmer, drier weather.

In the meantime, the Company will continue with preparatory, regulatory and pre-construction administrative work for these and additional projects.

Brad Nichol, President and CEO of Edge commented, "It is devastating what has happened to the residents in the Eckville area. Edge has always employed a strategy of utilizing local contractors and supporting the local economy in its operations, so the flooding is more than just a newspaper headline to us. Some residents have reported that this was the worst storm in 45 years, which resulted in the closure of highways and bridges."

Edge's main producing natural gas property is approximately 30 km west of Eckville, near the town of Leslieville, Alberta.

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Justice Dept Claims EPA Did Not Violate Range's Due Process Rights

Justice Dept Claims EPA Did Not Violate Range's Due Process Rights

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
by Jack Z. Smith

The Justice Departments contends in court papers filed Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency did not violate Range Resources' constitutional right of due process when it issued a Dec. 7 emergency order against the company related to methane contamination of two residential water wells in Parker County.

Range's due-process argument is "without merit," the department said, arguing that the Fort Worth-based natural gas producer "seeks to curtail the EPA's emergency powers" under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act "in a manner that would seriously harm EPA's ability ... to address risks to underground sources of drinking water and public water systems."

The department filed a 31-page brief in a Dallas federal court where Senior Judge Royal Furgeson is considering a Justice Department complaint, filed Jan. 20, contending that Range failed to comply with three of six provisions in the EPA order. The department is asking Furgeson to deny Range's motion to dismiss the complaint.

Range has also filed an appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The department said Range is entitled only to a hearing on whether it complied with the emergency order and "whether any civil penalties should be assessed." Fines could be $16,500 per day per violation.

In its Dec. 7 order, EPA said Range "caused or contributed" to the methane contamination of the water wells, likely from two nearby Range gas wells. Methane is the chief component of natural gas.

Range's wells were drilled more than a mile deep into the Barnett Shale, far below the water wells, which are roughly 200 feet deep.

Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella said late Monday that the company is reviewing the Justice Department's brief and that its "position remains the same": that it did not cause the water wells' contamination.

Range argues that the EPA's findings represent "sheer guesswork" based on "threadbare-thin" reasoning. It noted that EPA enforcement official John Blevins, who signed the emergency order, later backtracked somewhat, saying in a sworn deposition that Range "may" have caused or contributed to the wells' contamination.

Range argues that "there is 5,500 feet of the earth's strata separating the bottom of the private water wells from the subsurface horizontal sections" of its gas wells. The company contends that the EPA "does not even set forth a theory how gas could migrate from Range's wells to the aquifer."

The Texas Railroad Commission found March 29 that the Range gas wells did not cause the contamination. Its members said they agreed with its staff hearing examiners, as well as with Range and its consultants, that the gas in the water wells likely migrated from the shallow Strawn geological formation, into which some gas wells were drilled in the early 1980s.

Copyright (c) 2011, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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